Grays Ath Encouraged By Council Message

GOOD NEWS for Grays Athletic must come like buses. After the joy of retaining a place in the Ryman Premier, the club have now received a letter from Corporate Director of Sustainable Communities at Thurrock Council, Bill Newman which augurs well for the future.

YourThurrock will be catching up with Andy Swallow to look at the options for the future for Grays.

Only last year, Tory councillors had pledged that any plans for Grays to move to Blackshots were “Pie in the Sky” but with life-long Grays supporter, John Kent council leader, the future looks suddenly rosier for the Blues.

Mr Newman writes:

“I refer to my recent conversation with Glyn Jarvis and, as discussed, write to confirm that the Council has been working closely with Grays Athletic Football Club for some time now, with a view to finding an appropriate relocation for the Club.

The need for a relocation was initially born out of a very successful period for the Club where league form, cup successes and a possible promotion to the Football League meant that the Club began to outgrow its existing facility at Bridge Road. This ground is located within a closely built-up residential area, with little off-street parking, congestion in Bridge Road and is, by comparison, relatively poorly served by public transport.

In consequence and through the masterplanning carried out by the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation, the site of the Bridge Road ground is likely to be allocated for residential development in the Thurrock Local Development Framework (LDF) which is currently being developed by the Council.

The LDF consists of a number of documents, the first of which is the Core Strategy and Policies for Management of Development and which was submitted for approval to the Planning Inspectorate on 30th April 2010. This document includes a Policy (CSTP9 – Wellbeing: Leisure and Sports) which, amongst other things, states:-

2. Key Sites

I. The Council will work with relevant partners to progress the development of key flagship leisure and sports facilities at key locations to promote regeneration. The identified flagship sites include:

i. Sports and Well-Being Hubs (initially at Belhus, followed by facilities at Blackshots-North Grays)

ii. Leisure and sports facilities will be identified and set out in the Lakeside Regional Centre Area Action Plan (AAP)

II. The Council will review the potential for enhanced leisure facilities at Grays river front.

III. A Supplementary Planning Document will be prepared at a future date to consider the issues of health and wellbeing with regard to Chadwell and Tilbury.”

In accordance with this Policy (which has been in draft for some time), the Council has been working with partners, including Grays Athletic FC, to examine appropriate arrangements for delivering the facilities envisaged through this Policy. This work includes detailed discussions held over the last three years with senior officers of both the Council (I have led those on behalf of the Council) and the Development Corporation, the development of an approach to viability appraisal and consideration of a number of sites for the joint location of community and sports facilities.

This work is likely to culminate in a report to the Council’s Cabinet later this summer which will review the Thurrock Outdoor Sports Strategy. This review will also be used to update the evidence base to support its position at the Examination in Public into the Core Strategy in Autumn this year.

A strong, healthy and viable local football club structure is central to the aims of the Sports Strategy and the Council is clear about its expectations of Grays Athletic FC and the major role it should play in the delivery of the aims of the Sports Strategy. Therefore, the Council will want to continue to work with Grays Athletic FC in order to provide leadership and credibility to the football community in Grays and Thurrock as a whole.